Why "shatdaun" hinders the development of US hemp breeding

Due to the incapacity of the government, the entire legal cannabis industry in the USA continues to be under threat of federal sanctions. 

American henchmen were happy with the adoption of changes to the law "On Farms & raquo; (Farm Bill) for only 48 hours after being signed by the President of the United States. To this day, the country's hemp industry is experiencing an acute shortage of by-laws, which would have to be passed by the US government to implement it. Those. the budget impasse between President Trump and the US Congress, which led to the cessation of federal institutions, already has a significant impact on the development of American cannabis production.

The budget standoff does not have a direct connection with American cannabis, but it slows down important decisions that will affect the activities of various cannabis sectors of the US economy, including the business of obtaining and using drug-free cannabinoids, primarily cannabidiol: 

• The United States Department of Agriculture (United States Department of Agriculture, USDA) should develop rules for growing cannabis. For example, the state of Kentucky has already submitted its plan for the development of cannabis production to the federal authorities of the country for approval, but it is not clear whether government agencies, including the USDA, will consider this document until a national structure has been developed to monitor legal cannabis crops.

• The United States Food and Drug Administration (U.S. Food and Drug Administration, FDA) should develop rules for working with cannabidiol (CBD). In particular, the FDA leadership a few hours after the US President signed the changes to the farm Farm stated that in the next few weeks, the Office’s specialists will have to reconsider their attitude towards CBD, which naturally should have a beneficial effect on manufacturers and, accordingly, retail sales of drug-free cannabinoids. 

 • The FDA is currently considering several applications from pharmaceutical companies for various products containing cannabidiol. Until  shatdaun will not end, the epileptic drug Epidiolex will remain the only FDA approved drug made on the basis of hemp.

 • The Bureau of Taxes and Trade was supposed to approve new labels and formulations of products containing hemp ingredients, however, this kind of activity is currently suspended. At least one New Belgium Brewing Brewery (Colorado) is awaiting a decision to use cannabis inflorescences in a new product with a taste of cannabisa, which it plans to introduce to the American market.

 • The new law "On Farming" made changes to the requirements for the rules of import / export of hemp seeds. Those. The Drug Enforcement Administration, the US Customs and Border Guard Service currently do not understand the mechanism for importing seed material, which should already be used in 2019.

 • Many American hemp hopes that hemp is no longer a controlled substance, respectively, patents and trademarks have been filed, in which abbreviations or hemp are present. Naturally, this activity is suspended.

 • The adoption of the Law provided an opportunity to receive part of the financial resources that the USDA annually spends on agronomic and marketing research (about $ 1.1 billion) through the Agricultural Research Service. However, all proposals aimed at researching cannabis are not currently considered, and funding for previously planned research has been suspended.

 • Farmers who planned to cultivate hemp in 2019 are required to undergo data verification to obtain permits. At the moment this is not possible due to the fact that the FBI is closed. Moreover, the verification of biographical data is only one of the many obstacles that American agricultural producers need to overcome in order to legally grow cannabis, and not working government agencies impede the issuance of permits required for this.

 • The Rohrabacher-Farra amendment (legislative act of 2014), which protects state programs in the field of cannabis from threats of federal prosecution, expired on December 22. Until a new bill is signed, the amendment will not be extended. In fact, all activities within the framework of government programs related to cannabis production are currently threatened with closure in case of documenting illegal activities by the staff of the US Department of Justice. & nbsp;

At the moment, federal law says that hemp is still illegal at the federal level. And this is despite the fact that in 32 states there are medical cannabis programs, and in 10 more countries, cannabisa can be used for recreational purposes. However, due to the incapacity of the government, the entire legal hemp industry in the United States continues to be under the threat of federal sanctions.

According to participants of the American hemp market, after the changes to the law have been signed, everyone in the industry expects the federal government to give instructions on further actions to participants in the hemp market of the country. However, appealing to federal agencies for various kinds of explanations, cannabis farmers receive an answer stating that because of "shatdauna" and raquo; government officials are not working and will start work until the budget crisis in the country is overcome.

For example, representatives of the Californian company Walnut Creek, specializing in the production of products containing CBD, said they were waiting for the FDA to give permission for the use of cannabidiol in food, medicine and cosmetics.

The temporary closure of the United States Patent and Trademark Office makes it impossible for Denver-based enterprise CBDistillery to protect its products related to the use of cannabis in its products. In particular, according to CEO Chase Terwilliger (Chase Terwilliger), the company headed by him for about three years waited for consideration of the federal patent and at the final stage of consideration, the whole process was suspended.

However, the most serious problem is the delay in the production rules that must be developed by the US Department of Agriculture. Most likely, the hemp crop in 2019 will break all records, but the continuing uncertainty regarding the rules by which farmers must cultivate cannabis, as well as the federal crop insurance mechanisms, can stop those who wish to cultivate industrial crops of cannabis, which remain without government assistance scaling up production and turning technical hemp into a traditional crop.